Iberpapel to invest EUR 180 million in Production of Flexible Packaging Paper

The Board of Directors of Iberpapel Gestión S. A., Spain, has agreed to move ahead with the initiative dubbed Project Hernani, under which its subsidiary, Papelera Guipuzcoana de Zicuñaga S.A.U., will invest around EUR 180 million.

The so-called Project Hernani essentially consists of the installation of a new machine with a yankee drying cylinder for the manufacture of MG paper for several kinds of flexible packaging. The machine will add an estimated 85,000 metric tons to the Group's annual production capacity. In parallel, the existing pulp plant will be refurbished and updated, incorporating the latest technology and environmental standards—the sector's best available techniques (BATs)—which will increase the facility's nominal production capacity by between 15% and 20%.

The project is expected to take between 24 and 30 months to fully execute.

Iberpapel is a vertically-integrated paper group. It is committed to quality, service, and

environmental respect. It is one of the leading players in the printing and writing paper

segment in Spain, having invested more than EUR 200 million in modernizing and enhancing its facilities in the past 20 years.

The Group employs around 300 professionals across its three divisions: 

• The Forestry Division, comprising 25,788 hectares planted with eucaliptus globulus in Uruguay, Argentina, and Spain
• The Industrial Division, encompassing a vertically-integrated productive process spanning the manufacture of pulp (more than 200,000 metric tpy), the generation of electric power (via one 20-MW biomass-fueled turbine and one 50-MW CHP plant), and the manufacture of paper (250,000 metric tpy)
• The Sales Division, which channels 50% of the Group's sales volumes to the export markets.

In 2016, Iberpapel generated EUR 201.89 million of revenue and delivered year-on-year net

profit growth of 24.79% to EUR 20.1 million.